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Warts: Electrosurgery and Curettage

Topic Overview

Electrosurgery is a procedure that involves burning the skin that
contains a
wart. This is done with an electrical charge sent
through the tip of a needle, drying and burning off the wart tissue. The skin
around the wart must first be numbed with a painful
local anesthetic injection.

Electrosurgery can be used for a single wart or a few warts but not
for large areas of warts. It often leaves a scar, and warts can return after
treatment.

Curettage is the surgical removal (scraping or cutting) of wart
tissue using a scalpel or a small, sharp, spoon-shaped tool. This procedure may
be painful and can cause scarring. Curettage usually requires local anesthetic,
except in the case of filiform warts, which have only a small connection to the
skin. Curettage is a quick treatment to remove warts, but recurrence of warts
is common.

Electrosurgery and curettage are sometimes used together to treat
large warts and increase the chance of successful wart removal.

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